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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (98389)	5/16/2003 1:28:55 AM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Mix of 'President . . . and Pope' Army Officer Given Reins to Remake Mosul washingtonpost.com MOSUL, Iraq -- Lifting off in a helicopter from the grounds of a Mosul palace that he has made his headquarters, Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus began a tour of all that he commands, a vast northern Iraqi kingdom of desert and wheat fields, military installations and Bedouin camps, where poetry and strife fill the smallest corners. "Look at that -- gas trucks," said Petraeus, pointing out the window of his UH-60 Black Hawk as the journey progressed. A convoy was arriving from Turkey with U.S.-bought gasoline to help alleviate severe shortages here in Iraq's third-largest city. Farther along, he nodded toward combines harvesting wheat in the fields below. The agreement he brokered that sets grain prices for farmers and distributors was holding. Escorted by two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, the Black Hawk skimmed low over sand on its way to Rubiyah, a dusty town on the Syrian border. In plumes of sand, the helicopters landed there and Petraeus, with a stroke of his pen, formally opened a border crossing that had been closed since the start of the war. More than 1,000 tribal dignitaries sat in silence as he spoke at a feast that followed. He explained that another crossing would mean more money for all and cheaper chickens in Mosul because of competition. Ushered by sheiks in flowing white robes, he then moved to tables groaning under ceramic dishes; he tore off chunks of lamb with his hands and scooped up handfuls of rice. "Amazing, isn't it?" Petraeus said later as he waved to the mob from his departing Black Hawk. "It's a combination of being the president and the pope." [cont'd....]

To: LindyBill who wrote (98389)	5/16/2003 1:33:21 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Ok, let me see if I have them straight... Muqtada al-Sadr... opposes the U.S. presence in Iraq and wants the country to be an "Islamic nation." Mohammad Bakr al-Hakim... wants the Americans out of Iraq as soon as possible and says he will not accept a "forced government." Ali al-Sistani... isn't looking to help America build a new Iraq with a strict divide between mosque and state. In fact, he'd rather not be involved with the United States at all. Kadhem al-Husseini al-Haeri... advocates a restrictive, Iranian-style religious government in Iraq. Mohammed al-Fartusi... was briefly detained by U.S. forces soon after they captured the capital for reasons that were not disclosed... while addressing a large, cheering crowd a few weeks ago, he said, "We prefer the law of heaven, the law of God, rather than the law of man." Abdel Majid al-Khoei ... was seen by the US as the great moderate hope among Shiite clerics. He is, however, dead. It seems from this that the only Iraqi Shiite leader that was to any degree on our side is the dead guy, who won't be much help. This does not look encouraging. The one thing that could make me feel better about all this would be the emergence of a political party with a non-sectarian platform. Not a Sunni, Shiite, or Kurdish party, but a party with a platform of policies for a united Iraq. At this point, I'd consider this positive even if the policies sucked: just the emergence of a platform-based party would be encouraging. What do you figure the odds are on any such thing happening?